Jamila Lyiscott was asked by Ted to create an original poem about the Inauguration.

Below is the poem:

“The purpose of this piece is to inspire and sustain those of us committed to authoring hope, equity and justice into our immediate future. My impetus for framing the poem in the future is to remind us that we can claim victory, take ownership of the narrative of democracy and forge a different reality into existence if we can envision it now.” — Jamila Lyiscott

See this and 4 more poems at Ted here.

Minutes before the January 20th 2053 inauguration
My grandbabies and I will be tuned into the worldwide news hologram station
Eager contemplation
Headlines scrollin’ by about the history of our nation
My granny grays showin’ them that I survived back in the days
So they pumpin’ me for historical information

Like, “Granny…
Were you there during the divided state of America?
My history teacher says that the social climate was lethal
That the country bled
In a curious shade of red
Under the principle of profit before people
That you were trapped in a bad storyline
Like a cinematic sequel

My history chip says that deepening social silos sustained
Hate, division, and misogyny
That social safety was severed by a stratified economy

That the world around you felt more and more one-sided?
And no one knew what to do when the indivisible was so profoundly divided

My ‘Real D History Hologram’ app says that hyper-racial hatred hacked away at the hope of the people
That there was a time when you had to choose between being different and being equal

It said that they would snatch the breath from the lungs of an innocent Black body on a Tuesday and shrug it off as historical retribution

That healthcare became a game of Russian roulette–style execution

But granny, what happened? This is all so confusin’
This history I’m perusin’
‘Cause today we livin’ in the United States of Inclusion
And I don’t understand at all
I even read some trumped up nonsense about an attempt to build a wall

My ‘Real D History Hologram’ app took me back to the days after the 2016 election
Days filled with protests and misconceptions
Days that led to the deepest unity of the people to take the country in a new direction

How you pushed through such uncertain times is just a mystery
Is this real or, granny, is this trumped up history?”

And I will say
baby
In the year 20-and-17
When the putrid stench of polarized politics tried to render us broken
Tried to block our seat at the table until we broke in
Tried to asphyxiate our choices
Tried to Ursula our voices

We the People
Believing in the possibility of a more perfect union
Stood at the precipice of pandemonium and fought for a palpable peace
We stitched together a quilt of hope out of every fiber of our being
We juxtaposed our journey with a history of healing
We organized for all types of equality
Restructured the economy
Uprooted false ontologies and toxic ideologies

We the people
Loved each other like the broken skin of a god
And by disarming any disease to our true democracy we beat the odds

We the people
Faced our flaws
And became critically conscious about our collective care
We did not back down in the face of bigotry or waver under the fallacies of fear”

Just minutes before the January 20th 2053 inauguration
When the world is tuned into the international news hologram station
My grandbabies will want to know how we overcame
I will tell them
That healing is not the absence of pain
It is the decision to act in the service of your development
Rather than your defeat